Tenant owes me money

hotlatte

Good Morning,

I have a DSS tenant at my house and she is in arrears by £400 / months rental payment.

Situation: I used get paid directly by housing due to her financial situation but suddenly couple of month ago Housing Benefits without any consideration removed that facility and started paying her directly.

Thats where the problems started : She fell into arrears by 2 months i then made an appeal to the housing benefits that I had won. This way the payment method was reverted back to original mode.

Issue: She now owes me month's rent but she is messing me about a lot she makes a promise but doesnt keep up its costing me numerous trips / phone calls and lots of time and frustration but she make one promise to another.

I do like to keep her in the house as she is a good tenant but I would like to recover the arrears.

I was thinking of writing her a semi stern letter (if possible) where she is pressured just enough into making a payment afterall its her obligation to do so.

I would require your expertise in writing such a letter so that she takes it serious and makes payments.

Much Appreciated

tek-monkey

This is exactly why HB should go straight to landlords, not tennants. It makes no sense, the money is for housing so it should be spent on housing, giving it to the tennant is just temptation in many cases.

princeofpounds

OK, your remedy here is a Section 8 notice, which is a discretionary notice of the termination of a tenancy. Basically, it says that as she is behind on rent, the tenancy will terminate early.

Include this with a letter stating that as she is overdue with rent you are seeking possession of the property, and will go for a court order unless the arrears are paid within x days.

You can send this when two months rent is overdue (NOT in arrears, what matters is when it's due, so it can be 1 month and one day after the first missed due date). You can then apply to a court for an eviction order and the missing rent, which is the only legal way of getting a tenant out.

If the tenant is still 2 months overdue at the time of the court case (and they can pay 1 minute beforehand!) then the judge can order the eviction, or give them more time to pay. You will have to argue why they should get out, they will probably argue a sob story about how they only need another week to raise the cash. But whether in the first hearing or the second, you will get an order.

You then apply to court bailiffs who will chuck them out.

Do not harrass the tenants in the meantime. This is a cost of doing business and you don't want to get into trouble.

You may wish to serve a Section 21 at the same time (leave at end of fixed tenancy). This can't work until the tenancy is over but it is non-discretionary, the judge will order you your property back.

You will have to educate yourself on the proper way to word these notices (it is critical!) and initiate a court case, but it's quite straightforward once you find the right resources. Try landlordzone and their forums for help.

You must crack down on this ASAP. It may be you have a 'professional' tenant who will disappear and you won't be able to recover costs or lost rent, so moving for eviction at the earliest possible opportunity is wise.

You should also contact the local council LHA office. Once arrears have built up you can apply to have future LHA paid to you direct. They can tell you the process for this.

All in all this should limit your liability to 2-3 months missed rent.

Jowo_2

My understanding is that the S8 is only valid as a mandatory ground for possession when there is 2 months rent outstanding at the time of being served as well as the time of the court case (assuming monthly rent, check for other rental periods). Check the timing. S21 is a 'no fault' notice and as long as it is correctly served, remains valid to regain possession but many landlords fill it out wrong and find its invalid when they reach court.

Note that many council's operate gate-keeping policies and when approached by a tenant who has been served notice, will tell them to remain in place until the landlord has gained a court order.

PS, a tenant who does not pay the rent and avoids contact from the landlord is not a good tenant...

Do not harass the tenant - keep all contact by writing and strictly business like (no stern letters are necessary nor warranted). An S21 shows her you are serious, an S8 timed correctly will limit the amount of rent she can squander. Contact the LHA office to sort out payment to you when the arrears reach the limit when they can be switched to you.

clutton_2

you will never get these rent arrears back - folks on benefit dont have any spare money once they have spent the rent on other things.

decide if you want to keep her or not - if you dont the above advice is good, but as you dont know what you are doing, i suggest you join National Landlords association and get their help to fill in the court forms

if she stays - did you take a deposit - that could pay some of the arrears providing she does not damage the property

hotlatte

Calrification: Sorry gents just a quick clarification for you.

She has paid me for one month however she owes me rent for one month only at this moment and time.

2ndly, i want to keep her in the house however, i want to make sure the letter puts enough pressure on her so that "if she doesnt clear the arrears" she knows the consequences.

socrates

hotlatte wrote: »

Good Morning,

I have a DSS tenant at my house and she is in arrears by £400 / months rental payment.

Situation: I used get paid directly by housing due to her financial situation but suddenly couple of month ago Housing Benefits without any consideration removed that facility and started paying her directly.

Thats where the problems started : She fell into arrears by 2 months i then made an appeal to the housing benefits that I had won. This way the payment method was reverted back to original mode.

Issue: She now owes me month's rent but she is messing me about a lot she makes a promise but doesnt keep up its costing me numerous trips / phone calls and lots of time and frustration but she make one promise to another.

I do like to keep her in the house as she is a good tenant but I would like to recover the arrears.

I was thinking of writing her a semi stern letter (if possible) where she is pressured just enough into making a payment afterall its her obligation to do so.

I would require your expertise in writing such a letter so that she takes it serious and makes payments.

Much Appreciated

Is she receiving Housing Benefit or LHA?

hotlatte

socrates wrote: »

Is she receiving Housing Benefit or LHA?

she is recieving the housing benefits but she fell into arrears when they reassessed the method of payment of housing benefits.

Its a years AST contract my aim is to recover the outstanding £400 as Housing benefits has agreed to reverse their decision for payments of housing benefits post my appeal.

socrates

hotlatte wrote: »

she is recieving the housing benefits but she fell into arrears when they reassessed the method of payment of housing benefits.

Its a years AST contract my aim is to recover the outstanding £400 as Housing benefits has agreed to reverse their decision for payments of housing benefits post my appeal.

Can you let me know the first three letters of the post code, the number of people who live at the property and ages, her age and the weekly rental amount - then I can let you know IF there is a way around it

Welshwoofs

hotlatte wrote: »

2ndly, i want to keep her in the house however, i want to make sure the letter puts enough pressure on her so that "if she doesnt clear the arrears" she knows the consequences.

I'm afraid that I'd think you have no hope of getting that month's rent out of her and indeed she may know exactly what she's doing and is keeping the level of arrears below the level which would allow you to seek eviction via the courts.

Think about it though....if her financials were such that she had to spend your rent money on other things, why would she suddenly have a spare £400 knocking around now?

If she's a good tenant in other ways and the benefits are now being paid to you, can't you claim the amount owed from her deposit when she leaves?

hotlatte

Sure: OL8, 3 (Adult herself+ 2 little girls), she is probably between 25 - 30 years of age not 100% on this one.

Thanks